[chickendrumstick]

Does John Grisham count? I love the legal side of crime fiction.

[Harellie]

Jesse Kellerman, the son of Faye and Jonathon Kellerman is pretty good. I seem to have the same taste in books and have all those authors.

[cardamom]

Thanks Cardamom, I'll track down a later one to try.

'The Surgeon' is the first book in that series and introduces the detective character. It's not really necessary to read them all in order, though some things might be a tad confusing if you don't.

[Georgie01]

Thanks Cardamom, I've just ordered it and will see how I go.

[MrsShine]

Economist99 - was coming on to say the exact same thing, Nikki French is brilliant have loved and not been able to put down any of her books!

[klr70]

Kerry Greenwood - The Phryne Fisher series (18 books & counting). Australian author, set in 1920's Melbourne. Strong female characters. Lots of historical detail. Phryne is a female private investigator - not strictly "crime fiction", but a very enjoyable read.

I started reading the series when the first one came out (1989), read the first 6 or 7 books, then lost track, as they were hard to find/too expensive ($25+ for a paperback) & I lived overseas for a bit... Recently, I Googled to see if there were any more books & found them on the Book Depository UK site for around $10 each. Ordered them all & pre-ordered the latest one as part of my Christmas present (published early Jan, arrived about a week after the publication date, have only just started reading it yesterday - life with a toddler is very busy & not conducive to reading quietly!)

I re-read all the books I'd already read years ago - and really enjoyed them, even though I knew what was going to happen. Have enjoyed the newer ones immensely. My Mum loves them & her friends have borrowed them, too. I'd be happy to re-read any of them - they're very enjoyable, particularly if you like historical detail as well as the detective/crime aspect. OP - if you live in Sydney, I'm happy to loan you my books

Kerry has also written another series (main character Corinna), about a baker who's a "reluctant sleuth". I haven't read any of those, but probably will once I run out of Phryne Fisher books to read.

[iwanttosleepin]

Ruth Rendall/Barbara Vine - they are the same person.

Ruth Rendall is a much easier read. Barbara Vine can be hard work. i remember one of her books when I had to take notes to remember all the characters!

[asanil]

Why not give the Scandinavian crime authors a go, I can thoroughly recommend:

Henning Mankell (Wallander)
Stieg Larsson (Millenium)
Arnaldur Indridason
Camilla Läckberg
Jo Nesbø
Åke Edwardson

[Flimsy*But*Fun]

Peter Robinson's character, Inspector Alan Banks, I've always liked. I've read every one of his books. His very latest one was not much chop however.

[PatG]

Thanks everyone! I've just come back to this thread to find something new to read - am going to give the "in death" books by jd robb ago as well as All the Pretty Girls (Ellison?)....